Page 56 of Arianna

Suddenly feeling overwhelmed by this moment and this man, I turn my back and move away from him. I am almost to the door when he moves closer, joining me there. I watch with my head held high and a triumphant smile on my face as he reaches inside his suit pocket and retrieves a handful of white envelopes before handing them to me. “I could have turned your piece of shit father’s offer down and saved myself the trouble of you, but I didn’t. I saved you from becoming someone’s whore at eighteen years old. From where I stand, darling, you should kiss the ground I walk on instead of throwing so much sass.” I hold my breath as I watch him turn the knob and open the door with his free hand. “When I tell you to behave, you do it.”

When I open my mouth to tell him exactly what is on my mind, he cuts me off. “And hate me as much as you want, I couldn’t care less, but my child is off limits.” That makes me stop. He thinks I am so awful of a person that I would hurt a child because of my feelings for her father. That…stings. As if I am the same as the man that gave me my name. “If you hurt her in any way, I won’t hesitate to snuff the life out of you, which extends to your sisters. Are we clear?”

Anger bubbles in my stomach, but I contain it before I say something that might make the asshole retaliate, so instead of cursing him out as I want to, I nod once.

“Good girl,” he sighs as if he is disappointed. “Take them.” He drops the envelopes in my hand and steps back away from me, giving me room for me to leave. Getting the hint, I get the hell out of there, fuming and…fuck, I don’t even know what.

All I am certain of is that Sebastian Kenton despises my family’s name.

That means that my being here with him is not a game.

Not to him.

It is something more.

But what?

I might have made him speechless, but he won this battle.

He showed me exactly who is in charge.

Him.

And me?

I am not the queen on his board.

No.

I am the pawn.

BASTIAN

Political Headache

“I have no desire to keep up

with the farce that I tolerate you.” - B

Seated back with a glass whiskey in hand in my guesthouse, which is for my security team, I watch on one of the screens as the girl walks through the hallways of my mansion with nothing on but a white oversized shirt that leaves nothing to the imagination.

I have never in my goddamn life lost control.

Not in the courtroom.

Certainly not with a woman.

Yet today, I did.

All rational thoughts left me the moment the girl pushed up on me, challenging me with those stunning green eyes of hers.

I also have never met anyone as infuriating and tempting as Arianna, and it’s messing with my head.

She is a child…

She is a grown woman.

The two devils on my shoulders battle it out, but I know the truth, needing no reminder.

---